Prince Su Shu has been inspecting Mawei Shipyard these days.
He felt that he learned a lot from it. A lot of knowledge was not only suitable for managing the small Mawei Shipyard, but also suitable for running the country.
While he was resting, he also went to the governor's office to meet with governor Wang Linjiang. They exchanged views on government affairs, which was considered a preliminary contact.
4351 (1654 AD), March 15th, the day the Emperor-class battleship was launched.
Prince Su Shu finished washing up early and went to the huge dock of Mawei Shipyard.
This was not his first time here, but he was still shocked by the huge dock.
This shipyard, which can build 10,000-ton cargo ships, is comparable in size to a medium-sized terminal.
There are huge gantry cranes on the shipyard. Most of the gantry cranes are powered by steam engines, but some newer gantry cranes have used diesel engines.
These gantry cranes can lift hundreds of tons of cargo, which is the basis for building 10,000-ton cargo ships.
The gantry crane does not have this lifting capacity, and the keel of a 10,000-ton cargo ship cannot be installed.
Prince Su Shu and Mawei Shipyard Director Li Jia came to the dock together. They saw Wang Qijiang, Deputy Chief of General Staff, leading several naval generals, already looking up at a white ironclad battleship.
The huge size of the battleship and the towering island give people a strong sense of oppression.
This is the new generation of main battleship of the empire.
Wang Qijiang took the initiative to greet Prince Su Shu, and they exchanged a few words.
He looked at Li Jia and said with emotion: "Director Li, let me introduce the performance of the battleship again.
The data you provided during the bidding made all the navy generals excited. I can't believe now that the empire's ironclad ships can have such powerful data."
Li Jia was also extremely proud. He pointed at the warship that had been basically completed but was still parked on the dock and said:
"The warship is 108 meters long, 29 meters wide, has a full load displacement of 8,567 tons, a power of 8,100 horsepower, and a speed of 40 kilometers per hour.
It has 38 artillery pieces, including 4 twin 355mm main guns, the rest are 16 150mm secondary guns and 18 75mm eight-barreled rapid-fire guns.
The warship has external bulletproof armor. The warship armor is 355 mm thick and the turret armor is 415 mm thick.
We provide the artillery parameters, Mawei Shipyard is not responsible for manufacturing the artillery.
The military factory produces the artillery and then transports it to Mawei Shipyard for installation by us.
The current artillery has not been installed. After the warship is launched, it will be outfitted and then the artillery will be installed."
Wang Qijiang said with emotion: "The most shocking thing about this battleship is its unparalleled firepower and solid armor.
The main guns used by warships in the future will be the navy's mature large-caliber naval guns.
Compared with the previous artillery, the power has not improved much, but the new turret uses optical aiming technology and automatic loading technology.
The rate of fire of the artillery can reach 2.6 times that of the previous one.
The warship's full displacement weighs more than 8,000 tons, and it can soar on the sea at a high speed of 40 kilometers per hour.
The ships and battleships before the Navy were usually slow due to their high displacement and large tonnage of large-caliber artillery.
Destroyer ships have small firepower and do not need a powerful steam engine to run very fast.
The new generation of battleships are as fast as previous destroyers.
This battleship encountered the first-generation steel battleship Tarzan.
Its firepower is much stronger than that of Taishan, and its speed is also much higher than that of Taishan.
Its armor is so thick that even if it stands still and lets the Tarzan hit it, it will take a long time to sink it.
With the appearance of this battleship, the military had been discussing the development of armor-piercing projectiles that had no use before.
If it fights the Taishan, it will be like an armored ship fighting a sailing ship. It will be completely defeated by technology."
Prince Su Shu has served on the battleship Taishan for many years, and he can recite all the data on the battleship Taishan.
There is indeed a technological generation gap between this warship and the battleship Taishan.
Ignoring the advancements in gunpowder and artillery technology, just look at the armor of the two ironclad ships.
It is difficult for the Taishan to break through the defenses of a new ship. If a new ship is to fight the Taishan, even if it cannot break the defense for a short time, it can still blow up the unarmored artillery on the Taishan.
Without artillery, a warship loses its offensive capability and can only passively take hits.
Prince Su Shu said with emotion: "The turret armor of the warship is really a genius idea.
The defensive power of such a warship is comparable to that of a fort on the shore, and it can also move at high speeds on the sea. This is a maritime fortress, and it is a nightmare for all enemies of the empire."
Li Jia said modestly: "Your Highness, thank you very much. The turret armor of warships is not a new thing.
Coast defense guns were previously armored with earth and rocks, and later reinforced concrete was used.
This is the most cost-effective option. There are not so many loads on warships that use concrete, and alloy steel can only be used as armor.
An artillery piece is only a few tons, and the turret weighs dozens of tons.
The previous steam engines could not move such heavy objects, so the turret armor was removed.
The warship we built can carry it because the power provided by our steam unit is more than 8,000 horsepower, which is enough to move such a heavy warship."
Prince Su Shu had previously used steam engines at Mawei Shipyard to defeat the diesel engines at Qingdao Shipyard.
It is rare for such backward technology to defeat advanced technology.
He asked curiously: "Director Li, the technology of your Mawei Shipyard is so outstanding.
Defeated diesel engine technology with steam engine technology.”
Li Jia puffed up his chest and said proudly: "Your Highness, your understanding is somewhat wrong.
We are not using backward technology to defeat advanced technology.
Don't think that the technology is very backward just when you hear it is steam engine technology.
Traditional steam engines are inferior to diesel engines in terms of energy conversion efficiency.
This is an inherent backwardness. No matter how we repair it, there is still a huge gap that cannot be bridged in scientific principles.
The new warships use no ordinary steam engines.
Let’s go to the warship and take a look, then it will be clear at a glance.”
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Chief of Staff Wang Qijiang reminded: "Let's just take a look and don't delay the launching ceremony of the warship.
Both His Majesty and the Governor-General are paying attention to the launch of the new warship."
Li Jia nodded and responded: "Chief of Staff Wang, please rest assured that our Mawei Shipyard attaches great importance to this military order.
It’s impossible to make a small mistake like missing time.”
They talked about playing and walked along the steps to the deck of the new warship.
Li Jia led the way, and they walked from the deck entrance toward the interior of the warship.
This leads directly to the power cabin at the bottom of the warship. There are steel pipes of different thicknesses on both sides of the road.
These steel pipes are connected through joints, which are very strange metal joints.
Li Jia saw the curious look in Prince Su Shu's eyes, and he simply explained: "Warships use high-temperature and high-pressure steam, and these high-temperature and high-pressure steam cannot be sealed with rubber and other components.
The empire's current rubber technology has not yet solved the problem of high temperature resistance. It can withstand temperatures of one to two hundred degrees. However, at temperatures of hundreds or thousands of degrees, the rubber will age quickly and lose its sealing performance.
We use the latest metal sealing technology developed by the Academy of Sciences.
This kind of copper alloy is used as a sealing ring. As long as the temperature is not close to the melting point of the alloy, its sealing effect is always excellent.
The only disadvantage is that it is expensive to build, but when used on new battleships, the extra tens of thousands of taels of silver coins are not a problem at all compared to the reliability of the warships."
They soon arrived at the power cabin, and the first thing they saw were eight huge boilers.
Prince Su Shu saw that these boilers were tightly sealed and connected with various pipes.
The interfaces between the pipes and the boiler all showed signs of melted metal.
This reminded him of a welding process developed by the Academy of Sciences. They used the high temperature generated by the thermite reaction to use liquid iron as a welding agent to weld metal components together.
This kind of welding technology requires extremely high requirements, and there are strict requirements for the metering of thermite. After the molten iron solidifies, there must be no pores inside.
This technology is mainly used to make high-pressure vessels.
Craftsmen across the country who master this technology are all awarded the title of Lord.
Prince Su Shu said in surprise: "This welding process is usually used to make reaction axes for chemical experiments.
The steam pressure of this boiler is so high. I don’t think it has an inlet for feeding coal. Could it be that these boilers also burn diesel oil?”
Li Jia nodded and said: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince guessed right, in order to consider the boiler, we need to heat the steam to a sufficient temperature in the shortest time.
This allows the battleship to maintain strong combat effectiveness without having to preheat the boiler for a long time in advance.
Although it cannot start instantly like a diesel engine, it can also be quickly dispatched within dozens of minutes.
Diesel can burn quickly, but coal cannot reach such a speed.
Even if the coal is ground into fine powder and the pulverized coal is burned quickly, it is not as efficient as fuel injection.
When we build warships, we also have to consider the price of fuel.
Because a large number of factories use coal, the price of coal in the Empire is high and the price of diesel is low.
Warships are oil-hungry. Fuel prices are a little low, and they consume thousands or even thousands of taels of silver coins a year.
Diesel engines are indeed excellent. We at Mawei Shipyard have a thorough understanding of diesel engine technology and will also use diesel engines on warships and civilian ships."
Li Jia led everyone along the boiler pipes and came to a huge cylindrical machine lying horizontally.
Judging from the direction of the boiler pipes, this machine should be a steam engine.
But it is completely different from an ordinary steam engine. This steam engine does not even have a typical piston connecting rod structure.
Prince Su Shu asked in surprise: "Director Li, this is not a steam engine, but you just introduced it as a steam engine.
There is no steam engine without cylinder, piston and connecting rod, these three typical structures.
Without them, how can a steam engine move?"
Li Jia smiled and explained: "His Royal Highness, you think it is easier to push something back and forth to save effort, or to roll something to save effort."
Prince Su Shu said without thinking: "Of course rolling saves effort. Our ancestors invented the wheel thousands of years ago.
The current mechanical research of the Academy of Sciences also proves that the rolling method is more labor-saving, and it seems to involve some principle of angular momentum. I have not remembered this, only the conclusion."
Li Jia continued: "As we all know, the movement of a traditional steam engine is driven by a piston, which drives the connecting rod to move, and is converted into rotational force through the crankshaft.
Why don't we just get it right and start the steam engine?
I was watching propellers one day and got inspiration.
The propeller can push the water flow backward, and in turn, the high-speed water flow can push the propeller to rotate.
I started to research stumblingly, but never achieved much results.
Until the emergence of electric machine tools, the processing accuracy of machine tools was improved, allowing us to process fan blades with more complex shapes.
After years of research at our Mawei Shipyard, we finally developed a steam turbine.
High-temperature and high-pressure steam is sprayed onto the blades of the steam turbine at high speed, driving the steam turbine to operate.
This way the energy conversion efficiency is higher and the power generated is stronger."
After hearing this, Prince Su Shu suddenly realized: "It turns out that the power of the new warship is not a steam engine, but a steam turbine.
This is a competition between advanced technologies, rather than a relatively backward steam engine defeating a diesel engine with higher energy conversion efficiency."
Li Jia took advantage of Prince Su Shu's happiness and said: "Our steam turbine is only a first-generation product.
As technology advances, steam turbines will become more efficient.
There is an upper limit to the energy carried by steam. According to the principle of steam turbine, a gas turbine powered by diesel and other fuels will be more efficient."
Li Jia led everyone to visit the new battleship, and they suddenly heard a long whistle.
"His Royal Highness, Commander Wang, the launching ceremony of the new battleship is about to begin. Let's go ashore to watch the ceremony."
They returned to the shore, and after checking the warship, no one was left.
Li Jia saw that the time for the warship to be launched had arrived, and he immediately ordered the warship launching ceremony to officially begin.
Everything around the warship has been removed before, and the floodgates from the dock to the sea have been opened.
Pulled by the hook rope on the shore, the warship slowly drove towards the slope.
Prince Su Shu stared closely at the warship. He prayed in his heart for the blessing of his ancestors and that the warship must not roll over in the water.
He has heard that the technology of some civilian shipyards is not up to standard, and the angle when the cargo ship enters the water is wrong, and the ship capsizes directly during the process of entering the sea.
With a loud splash, thousands of tons of warships entered the sea.
The uncle watched the warship swaying from side to side on the sea. As the swing became smaller and smaller, he stopped steadily on the sea.
Chief of Staff Wang Qijiang waved his hand and ordered: "Get on the boat."
The naval generals and more than 300 naval officers and soldiers he brought with him immediately took the boat to the warship.
When the warship came down from the dock, it was only an initial success.
The launching ceremony will be considered a complete success only if the warship can really start firing and sail on the sea.
Nearly one million taels of silver coins were spent to create an immobile iron bastard. No one can accept this result.
Mawei Shipyard dispatched a cruise ship to immediately refuel the warship.
Prince Su Shu saw that the process of replenishing oil only took half an hour to complete.
He said in surprise: "The oil replenishment speed is very fast, which is also beneficial to the logistics support of the warship.
If it is replaced with coal, it will take at least two days."
He had served on the battleship Taishan and knew that the huge warship could replenish coal very slowly.
They need to use a crane to hoist the coal onto the warship at the port, and the people on the warship use trolleys to pull it to the warehouse one by one.
It is very convenient to use diesel. After the oil pipeline is connected, the oil can be pumped directly into the oil depot, which saves a lot of time in fuel transfer.
After the new warship was refueled, the prince's uncle saw the soldiers on the warship. Under the guidance of engineers from Mawei Shipyard, they began to start the warship.
The large chimney in the middle of the new warship slowly emitted black smoke, and the boiler started normally.
After waiting for a while, the warship's whistle sounded, it made a huge roar, and the steam turbine started running.
The steam turbine drove the propeller, and this large ship of several thousand tons began to move slowly on the sea.
Its speed is getting faster and faster, and it soon disappears in the eyes of people on the shore.
Prince Su Shu said excitedly: "The new battleship was launched successfully.
According to the imperial decree of the father, the Qin Shihuang sailing battleship with outstanding merits has been decommissioned.
The father decided to revive the name Qin Shihuang.
The new battleship is named the Emperor-class battleship, and the first ship is named Qin Shihuang."
Li Jia and Wang Qijiang already knew this news.
But coming from the mouth of Prince Su Shu, this represents the official recognition of the empire, which is of great significance.
The Empire has since had a new generation of battleships, the Emperor-class battleships.